2017 Volume 36, Issue 3 5
Contents
Editorial
Learning & teaching
Research
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Resource reviews
Teaching ideas for Early Stage 1
‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne, Walker Books,
London (2004)
Image from
‘Into the
Forest’ by
Anthony
Browne,
Walker Books,
London
(2004)
Understanding representation in Early Stage 1
By the end of Early Stage 1, students understand that
aspects of the real world and of their imagination
may be represented in different modes and media.
Planning to teach representation
Author Anthony Browne is considered by many as
the master of representation. This page from the
text could be used to create a lesson sequence.
Initially, it’s important to interrogate the text and ask:
‘What representation is happening here?’ The codes
and conventions, including visual literacy, used to
create representation could be recorded prior
to programming.
of the range of choices available to them in
representing people, objects, experiences and ideas
as well as how cultural convention may put limits
on representation, so positioning them to respond
to the world in particular ways.
English Textual Concepts resource, 2016
The expectations above help teachers design
learning for high intellectual quality and students’
deep understanding of representation. Developing a
better understanding of the complexity and breadth
of representation in the syllabus enhances teachers’
ability to devise rigorous and challenging learning
experiences. The English Textual Concept progressions
summarise and make explicit what is important to
teach and learn. The progression statements provide
a clear picture of what representation looks at each
stage of learning and how student understanding
develops from Early Stage 1 to Stage 5.
Building students’ understanding of representation
can be easily achieved. This knowledge is powerful
and transferable. Students can apply their knowledge
of representation in other contexts and even
other key learning areas. What follows are some
practical suggestions and lesson ideas for teaching
representation through quality texts.
and culture. This means that representation cannot
mirror actual reality but each representation offers
a different construction of the world
and of experience in it.
Like the way in which a sculpture or painting
represents an artist’s ideas or a building represents
an architect’s ideas, a text can be considered the
representation of a composer’s ideas. Moon (2001)
states that representations are
...
textual constructions that arise from habitual
ways of thinking about or acting in the world.
Although they seem to refer to the ‘real world’,
they actually refer to the cultural world which
members of a society inhabit.
This suggests that the language, symbols and
images we use to represent the world are open to
interpretation and are heavily influenced by the
context in which they were created. It means that
students can learn to use language, symbols and
images as tools to represent their own ideas
and opinions and position their audience in
a particular way.
By the end of Stage 5, students need to understand
that
... representations are not neutral. All representations
carry personal and cultural meanings and have
personal and social effects. Sometimes these
meanings are produced through a composer’s
conscious choices of language and structure
and at other times they may be unconscious
reproductions of attitudes, beliefs and values in
the world. This leads to the potential for different
readings of texts as representations are questioned
and reinterpreted. Students need to be aware